• Journal of Chest Surgery
• /
• v.28 no.1
• /
• pp.23-30
• /
• 1995

From January 1985 to December 1992, of 1257 patients who underwent a heart valve replacement 210 [16.8% underwent reoperation on prosthetic heart valves, and 6 of them had a second valve reoperation. The indications for reoperation were structural deterioration [176 cases, 81.5% , prosthetic valve endocarditis [25 cases, 11.6% , paravalvular leak [12 cases, 5.6% , valve thrombosis [2 cases, 0.9% and ascending aortic aneurysm [1 case, 0.4% . Prosthetic valve failure developed most frequently in mitral position [57.9% and prosthetic valve endocarditis and paravalvular leak developed significantly in the aortic valve [40%, 75% [P<0.02 . Mean intervals between the primary valve operation and reoperation were 105.3$\pm$28.4 months in the case of prosthetic valve failure, 61.5$\pm$38.5 months in prosthetic valve endocarditis, 26.8$\pm$31.2 months in paravalvualr leak, and 25.0$\pm$7.0 months in valve thrombosis. In bioprostheses, the intervals were in 102.0$\pm$23.9 months in the aortic valve, and 103.6$\pm$30.8 months in the mitral valve. The overall hospital mortality rate was 7.9% [17/26 : 15% in aortic valve reoperation [6/40 , 6.5% in reoperation on the mitral prostheses [9/135 and 5.7% in multiple valve replacement [2.35 . Low cardiac output syndrome was the most common cause of death [70.6% . Advanced New York Heart Association class [P=0.00298 , explant period [P=0.0031 , aortic cross-clamp time [P=0.0070 , prosthetic valve endocarditis [P=0.0101 , paravalvularr leak [P=0.0096 , and second reoperation [P=0.00036 were the independent risk factors, but age, sex, valve position and multiple valve replacement did not have any influence on operative mortality. Mean follow up period was 38.6$\pm$24.5 months and total patient follow up period was 633.3 patient year. Actuarial survival at 8 year was 97.3$\pm$3.0% and 5 year event-free survival was 80.0$\pm$13.7%. The surgical risk of reoperation on heart valve prostheses in the advanced NYHA class patients is higher, so reoperation before severe hemodynamic impairment occurs is recommended.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
• /
• v.34 no.9
• /
• pp.680-685
• /
• 2001

Background: Tricuspid valve replacement is very rarely performed procedure and its long-term result is not yet satisfactory. Moreover, it is not well known whether bioprosthesis or mechanical prosthesis is the best selection for artificial valve. We reviewed 72 cases of tricuspid valve replacements in 71 patients between January 1989 and December 1998, trying to analyze the overall results and risk factors for mortality and morbidity. Material and Method: Average age of the patients at the time of operation was 42$\pm$13 years(range 16 to 65 years) and the sex ratio of male versus female was 32/39. Primary diagnosis consisted of 50 cases of aquired valvular heart disease and 18 cases of congenital heart disease, such as Ebstein’s anomaly. 4 cases had isolated tricuspid valve regurgitation. Implanted valves were 69 mechanical prosthesis and 3 bioprosthesis. Concomitant mitral or aortic valve replacements were performed in 50 cases. One patient received concomittant pulmonary valve replacement. Result: There were 7(9.72%) operative deaths and 7(13.0%) late deaths. Actuarial survival at 10 years was 59.2$\pm$7.2%. Prosthetic tricuspid valve thrombosis occurred 11 times in 5 patients. Reoperation for prosthetic tricuspid valve failure was performed in 1 patient. In this case, examination of the explanted prostheses showed that the tricuspid stenosis was the result of valve thrombosis. Among the 47 survivors, 46 patients(98%) were in functional class I or II. Conclusion: In our ten-year experience of tricuspid valve replacement, mortality and morbidity were satisfactory. Mechanical prosthesis in tricuspid position showed comparable clinical results as bioprosthesis.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
• /
• v.36 no.5
• /
• pp.316-320
• /
• 2003

Background: The detection of circulating microemboli by transcranial Doppler ultrasonography (TCD) has the potential to select the patients with high risk for future symptomatic brain embolism. We prospectively evaluated the positive rate and the frequency of microembolic signals (MES) before and after the heart valve surgery (HVS). Material and Method: Fifty in-patients with heart valve disease were enrolled in this study. Patients with history of previous stroke or heart valve surgery were excluded. Two unilateral TCD monitoring sessions were peformed from middle cerebral artery for 1-hour, before and after HVS. Result: Mechanical Heart valves were implanted in 28 patients, tissue valves were implanted in 10 patients, and remaining 12 patients received mitral valve repair. Positive rate of MES was significantly increased after HVS (50%), compared to that of before HVS (8%, p=0.00). There was no relation between MES after HVS and intensity of anticoagulation, cardiac rhythm, patients' age, and history of hypertension. The positive rate of MES after implantation of mechanical heart valve (71.4%) was significantly higher than those after implantation of tissue valve or mitral valve plasty (p=0.002). Conclusion: Positive rate of MES was increased significantly after the implantation of HVS. The changes of MES in those with mechanical prosthesis may be related to the increased risk or embolism after Hvs.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
• /
• v.33 no.1
• /
• pp.45-50
• /
• 2000

Background: The CarboMedics prosthetic heart valve was produced in an attempt to improve the existing valve designs and was especially concerned with easily the implantation and further reduction of turbulence. Precise positioning of the valve in situ was achieved by the abilityof the valve to rotate relative to the sewing ring. Improved monitoring is possible due to increased radiopacity and the dacron sewing ring is coated with carbon to reduce pannus overgrowth. The leaflets have an opening angle of 78 degrees that apparently allows a rapid synchronous closure The aim of this study was to analyze the clinical performance of the CarboMedics valve prostheses(45 mitral 13 aortic and 7 double aortic-mitral valve replacement) were implanted in 65 patients(mean age 48.75$\pm$9.74 years) Result: The operative mortality was 3.1%(2/65) causes of death were low cardiac output syndrome. Total follow up was 1831 patient-months and mean follow up was 29.06$\pm$10.97 months/patient. No structural failure hemorrhage valve thrombosis and late death have been observed. Embolism occurred at a rate of 0.65%/Patient-year. Actuarial survival and thrombo-mbolism free rate at 36 months were 96.9% and 98.4% respectively. Consclusions: The CarboMedics valve stands for low valve related complicatons.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
• /
• v.27 no.10
• /
• pp.858-861
• /
• 1994

Prosthetic valve thrombosis is rare but it is one of fatal complication after heart valve surgery. Improvements of the valve design and the material have decreased the frequency of thrombosis but have not eliminated completely. And some cases of prosthetic valve thrombosis during pregnancy were reported inspite of adequate anticoagulation therapy.Urgent surgical intervention is indicated for prosthetic valve thrombosis but it is associated with high operative risk, therefore medical thrombolytic therapy such as urokinase or streptokinase therapy is regarded as an alternative therapy. This is a case report of the successful thrombolytic therapy for valve thrombosis in a pregnant patient after mechanical mitral valve replacement.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
• /
• v.35 no.1
• /
• pp.60-63
• /
• 2002

Edwards Duromedics mechanical valve was introduced into clinical use in 1982 and is still being used today after several modifications. Valve-related complications after mechanical valve replacement are thiombo-embolism, endocarditis, valve malfunction, valve leaflet escape and fracture. Incidence of valve leaflet escape is very low. A 40 year-old male patient who had undergone mitral replacement with a 31mm Edwards Duromedics mechanical valve(model

• Journal of Chest Surgery
• /
• v.27 no.8
• /
• pp.664-668
• /
• 1994

A total of 217 patients underwent single mitral valve replacement [MVR] with the St. Jude Medical valve between September 1984 and the end of 1992. There were 86 males and 131 females with a mean age of 34.6 $\pm$ 14.4 years[range 5 months-61 years]. A previous valve replacement had been performed in 46 patients [21.2 %]. An early mortality rate was 7.4 % [5.2 % in primary MVR; and 15.2 %in re-replacement MVR]. Early survivors of 201 patients were followed up for a total of 934.5 patient-years[mean 4.7 $\pm$ 2.1years]. A late mortality rate was 2.5 % or 0.54%/patient-year. The linearized rates of thromboembolism, valve thrombosis and anticoagulation-related bleeding were 1.301 %, 0.214 % and 0.428 %/patient-year, respectively. The actuarial survival including operative mortality was 89.9 % $\pm$ 2.1% at postoperative 10 years. The freedom from thromboemolism was 91.3 %$\pm$ 2.5% and the actuarial estimate of incidence free from late deaths and all complications were 80.9 % $\pm$ 3.8 % at 10 years. There were no mechanical failures. In summary, the St. Jude Medical prosthesis performed satisfactorily with an acceptable rate of late complications.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers
• /
• v.16 no.11
• /
• pp.2090-2097
• /
• 1992

In this paper, fluttering behavior of mechanical monloleaflet heart valve prosthesis was analyzed taking into consideration of the impact between the valve occluder and the stopper. The motion of valve occluder was modeled as a rotating system, and equations were derived by employing the moment equilibrium conditions. Lift force, drag force, gravity and buoyancy were considered as external forces acting on the valve occluder. The 4th order Runge-Kutta method was used to solve the equations. The results demonstrated that the occluder reaches steady eguilibrium position only after damped vibration. The mean damping ratio is in the range of 0.197-0.301. Fluttering frequency does not have any specific value, but varies as a function of time. It is in the range of 11-84Hz. Valve opening appears to be affected by the orientation of the valve relative to gravitational forces.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
• /
• v.24 no.2
• /
• pp.171-181
• /
• 1991

Result of St. Jude Medical valve replacement are presented in 106 patients who underwent operation from January 1985 through July 1989. The patient were 52 males and 56 females. Total 136 of St. Jude Medical valves were implanted; 91 in mitral position, 45 in aortic position. The hospital mortality rate was 5.7%o[6 patients] and the late mortality rate was 2.0%[2 patients]. The causes of death were low cardiac output in 5, iatrogenic right ventricular rupture in 1, heart failure in 1, ventricular arrhythmia in l. And, the causes of valve related complication were anticoagulant related hemorrhage in 5 patients[0.03% /patient-year] and thromboembolism[0.01% /patient-year] in 2 patients. In conclusion, the performance of the St. Jude Medical valve compare most favorably with other artificial valves. But it remains still hazards of mechanical prosthesis such as thromboembolism and anticoagulant related hemorrhage.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
• /
• v.29 no.3
• /
• pp.326-330
• /
• 1996

Despite anticoagulation, systemic embolization and anticoagulant-related hemorrhage are the major drawbacks of heart valve replacement with mechanical prostheses. Among many predisposing factors, inadequacy of anticoagulation is the most important one. Surgery can be reserved for patients who do not response to thrombolytic therapy, We have experienced 3 cases of prosthetic valve thrombosis treated by thrombolytic therapy by use of urokinase and heparin. Two patients fully recovered and returned to their employments and active lives but 1 patient,died of intracerebral hemorrhage and infarction. We report prosthetic valve thrombosis thrombolytic therapy with urokinase and heparin which was detected and serially followed by 2-dimensional echocardiography, cinefluoro copy, and monitoring of Swan-Ganz catherterized pressures.